The Sunday talk shows included exaggerated claims from both sides about the debate over automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect March 1:

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said “as many as 40,000 teachers could lose their jobs.” But that assumes the entire $2.8 billion in looming DOE cuts would come from teacher salaries. Duncan himself testified there would be cuts elsewhere — including cutting “more than 70,000 students from grant and work study programs”

In episode 27 of our podcast, we look at misleading ads from a conservative and a liberal group: Crossroads GPS, a group with ties to Karl Rove, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees labor union. Plus, we tell listeners about a greatly exaggerated claim from the education secretary about high-school dropouts.

For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:
Misdirection from Crossroads GPS Aug. 30
AFSCME’s Big, Brazen Attack Sept.

On this week’s Sunday talk shows, we caught the education secretary making a greatly inflated claim about high-school dropouts. Plus, Florida lawmakers made exaggerated statements on tax cuts and support of environmental bills.Too Cool for School
On ABC’s "This Week," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan greatly exaggerated the number of students leaving school every year:

Duncan: In this country, we have a 25 percent dropout rate. That’s 1.2 million students leaving our schools for the streets every single year.

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